Love is in the air?
by GoddessofSnark
Summary: ok, it's my first Ever After fic! It's about Le Pieu, and him meeting someone else after Danielle. Enjoy!
1. Default Chapter

A/N Ok, if you haven't noticed YET....read my profile, and you'll find out that I'm completely obsessed with Richard O'Brien, and this is, I think one of his best roles! That beard makes him look so much younger! Well, anyways, this is just a little ficcy I came up while watching the movie! Enjoy!  
  
**  
  
He walked throught the streets of the familiar marketplace, his usual entourage trailing behind him. he browsed through the familiar stands, before he spotted another one, that wasn't there the week before. He dismissed his lackeys with a wave of his hand, and gently adjusting his hat, walked up to the small kiosk. He was pleasantly surprised when the person miding the store was a young, beautiful woman. "May I intrest you in something sir?" She asked, giving him a slight curtsey. He browsed over the table of linens, before he turned his gaze to looking over her.  
  
"Marie, sir. Maire Susan Champlain." She took this oppurtunity to oogle him. he was about the same height as she, and the first thing you noticed was the beard. It was a thin goatee, it had once been blonde, but had thus since gone brown, and had just started to go gray. "Would you like to buy something sir?" she asked politely, never taking her eyes off him.  
  
"Perhaps. Depends on what you have."  
  
"All sorts of linens sir. Perhaps you fancy a new cloak? Or maybe a saddle blanket for your horse? It can all be custom embroidered."  
  
"Custom embroidered you say?"  
  
"Yes sir. Designs, names, monograms, you name it I can probably do it."  
  
"How long will it take to do a monogrammed handkerchief."  
  
"A day sir." His thin eyebrows raised at the short period.  
  
"A day, that's it?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Well then, I suppose I'll be seeing you tomorrow."  
  
"Um, sir, it might help if you give me what to monogram your handkerchief with. I'm new here and I don't know all of the courtiers yet." He turned back around, his face slightly flushed with embaressment. He had no clue why he was even being somewhat nice to her.  
  
"Pierre. Pierre Le Pieu"  
  
"Thank you sir. You can come by tomorrow to pick it up." He nodded, and left. He rode his horse back to his castle, not bothering to collect the rest of his entourage. As he rode at almost full gallop, he thought about what had just happened.  
  
"I'm going soft." He told himself, smiling slightly. It was true to. Not even Danielle had had this sort of control over him. All he could think about as he rode back to the castle was how beautiful this woman was. She was younger than Danielle too. And the lord knew he needed a young lady around.  
  
**  
  
She sat at the kiosk working on the man's handkerchief. There was something about him. Something different. Something good, inside all of that evilness. He had such an evil air around him. and that scar didn't help at all. No, the thin scar that ran down his cheek made him seem all the more evil.  
  
But he seemed so delectable. In that forbidden fruit sort of way. He was probably happily married, with a nice little clan. But yet, she could swear that he had been flirting with her. "Men will be men" she muttered to herself, and stiched away her thoughts about him.  
  
**  
  
The next morning, he was at the shop bright and early, again, minus his entourage. Marie smiled at him when he walked up to her. "Hello, Mr. Le Pieu, wasn't it?"  
  
"Yes, it was, well, is rather." Damn, he was slipping over his own words. She chuckled slightly, and removed a flowing white handkerchief with his intials stiched into it with red thread.  
  
"You never said what color the monogram should be in, so I just picked red."  
  
"Red is fine. How much do I owe you?" He said, pulling out a small change purse.  
  
"One gold franc" He took his time to pull out the franc, and paid her. "Thank you."  
  
"No, thank you." He said. He was shocking himself at how nice he was being. She smiled at him.  
  
"So, Pierre, what brings you to the market anyway? You seem rich enough to have servants to do the shopping for you."  
  
"My servants have no taste." Ah, there was the cruel self that he remembered. She laughed.  
  
"As if you do." She said quietly.  
  
"Mm, what was that?" he said icily.  
  
"Nothing sir."  
  
"Did you just say I had no taste?" He said staring at her.  
  
"You could stand to get a better tailor."  
  
"And might you be able to recommend one?"  
  
"Someone who isn't color blind would be a good start." He couldn't belive what he was hearing. There was this woman, barely even 15, insulting him to his face. His face contorted into a snarl.  
  
"What do you know about fashion, you're just a little girl."  
  
"A little girl with a knack for style." She said, meeting his glare. "And this little girl also has a short temper. So if you're not going to buy anything else I suggest you leave before I have to MAKE you leave." He got the point and left.  
  
**  
  
But even during his ride back to his fort, he couldn't erase the thought of this girl. She had just publicly humililated him. Even though they weren't shouting, there were still people in the vincity that heard them. He was better than her. She was just a girl, an artisian, with a shop. He was a courtier, of noble blood. Never mind the fact that he was the black sheep of the family. The youngest of 6 children, he hadn't been paid much mind. His four brothers found him as an easy target to pick on with his slim build, and his two sisters found great joy in embarrising him any way possible.  
  
He was also the only one in his family to not yet be married. His four brothers had gotten all of the land, and he was left with this small castle that had almost gone to his sister. It was no wonder he was as evil as he was. It was the only way he knew to survive. Be cruel, and get the rewards.  
  
But he was beginning to tire of this life. He wanted to settle down. He was pushing 50, and was yet heirless. He wanted a child to pass this scrap of land that he owned on to. He wanted a wife to come home to. Besides, a wife might help him improve his status. He shook his head to clear these thoughts from his head. If he got married, it would be out of love, and nothing else.  
  
A/N Again!  
  
Ok, I like doing disclaimers near the end, so , no, I don't own Le Pieu (though I'd love to), but Marie Susan (not named for nothing...figure it out) is mine! All mine! (laughs maniacally, then blows a kiss out to the audience) And also, every "once in a while" (Pun intended, very much so) I get these wonderful little things called reviews, and I'd love to get more! Thank you for getting this far! Hopefully, they'll be more! (more more more) 


	2. The Challenge

It was a fortnight later that he found himself at the market again. As he browsed through the kiosks, he found himself heading to where Marie's kiosk was. But when he got there, he found the space vacant. One of the nearby merchants saw him looking bewildered and laughed. "Looking for Suzie?" He asked.  
  
"Suzie?" He questioned.  
  
"The sticher, with the custom embroidery?" The other man said.  
  
"Why yes, yes I am." He said, now figuring things out.  
  
"She'll be here sooner or later. Never sets up shop at the same time. Hardly ever even sets up shop. Once a week I tell you. That's it." Le Pieu smiled slightly, and walked off. He browsed through the market, and was about to leave when he literally crashed into Marie.  
  
"'Ello. Le Pieu, if I'm not mistaken." She said, moving off to the side to allow the crowd to get past.  
  
"Marie, I belive." Her eyebrows shot up for a split second.  
  
"I didn't think you'd remember anybodies name unless they owed you money."  
  
"Yes, well," he started.  
  
"Yes, well, I was about to go get something from a friend of mine."  
  
"Don't you have a shop to mind?"  
  
"No, actually, that's just a hobby that makes money."  
  
"So, what do you do?"  
  
"Everything my father did."  
  
"Which is?" He pryed. His mouth was betraying his mind. He wanted nothing to do with her. But yet he did.  
  
"My father was a sailor, one of the finest on the seas." She said, turning around and starting to walk.  
  
"Well, what happened?" He asked, hurrying to catch up to her.  
  
"He died." She said flatly. He had the sudden urge to offer his condolences. No. no, he wouldn't. He couldn't. "What about you?" She asked him, turning to face him.  
  
"They'res nothing to tell."  
  
"Everyone has a story." She pointed out. "What's yours?"  
  
"Why do you want to know?"  
  
"I told you, now you tell me." She said, staring him in the eye.  
  
"As I said, I have nothing to tell." She moved within an inch of him. She could feel the heavy, angered breath coming from his nostrils.  
  
"You have something to tell, and I'm just going to have to force it out of you. Why don't you start with the story behind that scar?" His hand went up to his cheek, gently tracing the thin white line.  
  
"This?"  
  
"Yes, that." She said exasperatedly, walking away from the stand where she had just bought some fabric from.  
  
"In a fight." It was the truth. He was fighting with Danielle at the time.  
  
"Hah! I bet even the princess could beat you!" He smirked slightly at how true that was.  
  
"Do you think you can?" He said gruffly.  
  
"I bet." He stared at her.  
  
"Bet what?" He said, grinning slyly.  
  
"Depends."  
  
"On?"  
  
"What you're willing to lose." That was it. He was ready to do anything. She had hit his last nerve. He narrowed his eyes and stared at her. "I take that as 'We're on?'"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well then, they'res a grove in the woods about a mile away. I'll meet you there in two hours time." She said, before walking off. He was left standing there. What had this woman done to him? This woman, no, this GIRL, had completely changed him. It was almost as if he had..feelings.  
  
He was going to stand her up. He really was. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to have anything to do with this...duel. or this girl. But he couldn't seem to bring himself not to go. He felt almost as if he had to. This girl got under his skin in a way that no one else had before. 


	3. The Duel

A/N ok, I suck at writing fight scenes of any sort, and I also have written this to be pure fluff, if you're not a Le Pieu fan, don't take it out on me, it's just a deluded fantasy of mine, k?  
  
Two hours later, he rode into the woods, his longsword in it's familiar scabbard. She grinned when she saw him. There were a few other people, gypsies by the look of it, who were placing bets on the outcome of the match. He jumped off of his horse, and she got up from the log that she was sitting on. The stared each other down. He was in the same britches and shirt that he had been wearing earlier, but she had changed her outfit. She was in a pair of pants that were quite a bit big on her, and a shirt. "So, you decided to come after all?" she said, staring him down.  
  
"Yes." He said, looking her over. Even dressed as masculinly as she was, he still couldn't help but run his eyes over her.  
  
"So, what do you wager?" She said, swaggering up to him, with arrogance to match his own. When she got no response, she spoke again. "Well then, we'll have to settle this on my terms. You received part of the Baroness du Gent's land, did you not?" He nodded. "Well then, If I beat you in this duel, I get all of that land."  
  
"And if I win?" He questioned, a sneering tone in his voice to match his mouth.  
  
"That's your descion." He thought hard about it.  
  
"I get something of yours." Their was a few sniggers from the gypsies. She nodded, as if to mock him.  
  
"So, you ready to begin the duel, sire?" No doubt this time, she was definitely mocking him. His eyes narrowed into evil slits. He nodded again, and drew out his longsword, looking down it to where she was standing. She nodded to one of the gypsies, and they tossed her a sword.  
  
"I'm warning you now sir, I learned from one of the best swordsmen in the land." She said, taking a testing jab at him, which he easily parried.  
  
"And who might that be?" he asked, swiping at her. she jumped back, and swung at him.  
  
"My father." She spun around, keeping their swords locked, and the thrust at him. it was his turn to jump back, and again tried to hit her. she ducked beneath his blow, and slammed the pommel of her sword into his stomach, making him keel over. She grabbed his sword and easily wreched it away from him, before placing her own at his throat.  
  
"I suppose this means that you won?" he said, gently rising up one knee.  
  
"Yes, and if you move another inch without my permission, I'm going to slide this sword straight across your throat." He gulped, and stayed where he was. "Now, about that land, what else comes with it?"  
  
"The land, and whatever is on it."  
  
"Which is?" She questioned, never moving the sword.  
  
"The house."  
  
"Well then, not much, I expected more from you Monsieur Le Pieu. Much more."  
  
"What are you going to do about it?" She could tell that it was his way of asking her if she was going to kill him. She wasn't going to, but she could let him think that. She thought for a moment or two, the hand with the sword occasionally twitching near his throat.  
  
"Hmm, I'll start with your horse." She nodded at one of the gypsies who quickly brought the horse over to where they were. "And then, how about....whatever I wish from your estate." He opened his mouth, as if to argue, until he felt the cold metal of the back of the blade hit his neck.  
  
"Take what you wish." He said, and she finally removed her sword. She kept his, however, and made him give up the scabbard. She mounted his horse easily, and looked at him.  
  
"Need a ride?" She asked, a playful light back in her eyes, replacing the cold one that had been there moments before. She was one of the most vexing people he had ever met. 


	4. The House

He stood up, warily looking around. As he stared at her in disbelief, she led the horse in a slow circle through the clearing. "So, do you need a ride?" she asked again. He was torn. He didn't want to be on the same horse as this woman, but then again, he had no other way of getting back. And he most certainly did not trust her at his home without him there.  
  
He nodded after a moment, and she gestured to the space behind her on the horse. He grimaced. "Take it or leave it. Last chance" she said, prepared to spur the horse away. He looked around, as if he could be any more humiliated at the hands of this girl, and finally hopped on behind her. She grinned, and spurred the horse away at a breakneck speed.  
  
She could feel him tensing up behind her, and she quickly directed the horse towards a stone wall, and she could hear him gasp. The horse easily cleared the wall, and he let out a sigh of relief. She laughed, as he realized that he had involuntarily wrapped his arms around her waist for support.  
  
As he quickly removed his arms, she gently slowed down the horse as he realized that they were approaching his estate. He hopped off the first chance he got, and walked up to the large oaken doors. She made short work of tethering up the horse, and followed him inside.  
  
"Now, I suppose the Estate Du Ghent can use some redecorating." She said, wandering around, checking out all the various things that he had. "My my, this place is rather empty, isn't it?" He could feel his blood beginning to boil.  
  
"I don't need fancy decorations."  
  
"Don't entertain much, eh? Well then.." She let her sentence trail off as she looked a few paintings that hung on a wall. There were a few that interested her, and she examined them with a skilled eye. He recognized the glint in her eye as one that he had gotten before, the look of someone who saw something that they coveted.  
  
"I'll take that one." She said, pointing to the one in the middle. Of all the ones that she had to chose from, she picked that one.  
  
"That one," he all but snarled, "Is not available for your taking." It was the only one that he had inherited from his parents, and he'd be damned before he gave it up. She turned and glared at him.  
  
"Fine then." She said, stalking away from the area. She quickly picked out a few more things as she made her way through the dining room, him close in tow, making sure that she didn't wreck his house. It didn't take long for her to find his quarters.  
  
He made a vain attempt to stop her from going inside, but she did anyway, brandishing his sword when he made to stop her using brute force. There wasn't much inside, but what she saw, she liked. The one thing that caught her eye was a large wooden chest in a back corner of the room. She looked at him before she opened it, and found a look of slight apprehension on his face.  
  
She flung open the trunk anyway, and found an assortment of various odds and ends inside. Some jewelry, a few candlesticks, and what appeared to be very fine silver. She smiled broadly. She inspected the jewelry very carefully, scrutinizing every bit of it. The one that she looked at the longest was a beautiful broach.  
  
It was a sapphire, with an intricate golden design around it. She looked at him, and watched as a pained expression flickered across his face briefly. She couldn't help but pity him. He needed someone to feel sorry for him, the cold, heartless bastard he was.  
  
"I'll take this as well." He opened his mouth as if to say something, but as her hand drifted to the scabbard, he closed it promptly. But as she traipsed back through the hallways like she owned the place, he quickly felt his temper rising, and finally wheeled around on her, blocking her from entering back into the dining room.  
  
"Might I ask as to what you're doing?"  
  
"I'm telling you to get out of my house. I never said you could take my horse, I never said you could take half of my possessions, and I certainly did NOT give you permission to go rifling through my personal bedchamber and certainly not to take that!" her eyebrows raised up quickly, then fell back down.  
  
She gently drew the sword from the scabbard and ran the flat of the blade across his bald head. "Yes, but you're not the one who won that sword fight, now are you?" he twitched slightly, but other than that, did not move.  
  
"No, but you are not the one who is the owner of this house. You cannot just barge in here. I could call one of my servants over and have you shipped off to the Americas in an instant." She laughed at this.  
  
"Do you really think that that would be a punishment for me?" She laughed again.  
  
"It's a punishment to most everyone else."  
  
"Ah, but my fair sire, you're forgetting to whom you're talking to. Marie Suzan de Champagne."  
  
"Yes, what about you?"  
  
"I'm not exactly French nobility, au contraire."  
  
"So what are you?"  
  
"A woman of many talents sir."  
  
"And what else"  
  
"A woman with a long history.  
  
"Would you care to tell that history?" he asked trying to get more time, and to stop her from taking half of his possessions.  
  
"If you tell me why this brooch means so much to you." He thought for a moment, contemplating it. If he told her the story behind the brooch, he'd be giving up a large portion of the past he'd tried to keep hidden. But yet, he wanted to know even more about this raucous girl.  
  
"Fine." He finally said, and she launched into her tale. 


	5. i give up with titles

A/N sorry if this chapter isn't quite as good as the others, but I remember I had a GREAT idea for the brooch, and try as I might, I could NOT remember what it was. So this is as much as I could piece together from memory, do enjoy it though!  
  
She launched into a long-winded story that could almost be described as a fairy tale. It was a magnificently told story about a man, a noble, who was doing very well for himself, he had a large inheritance, and had been seen with one of the highest courtiers. But there was a single catch, he really was in love with another woman.  
  
Le Pieu sat there, almost mesmerized by the way she was telling the tale, but after a moment's pause, he spoke. "Now, what does this have to do with you?"  
  
"Because that man's my father." She said, continuing with her story. It seemed that the woman that he loved was a young woman, but she was far from nobility, and even worse, she was British. But they were in love. He gave up his entire inheritance to be with her. Le Pieu nodded slightly, enraptured by the tale.  
  
"So why are you here then? In France I mean."  
  
"I am here, because my parents died, and England was boring." He snorted slightly at the last part of the statement. She had already shown a short attention span, and he didn't doubt what she said. "Now that I've told you WHY I'm here, you owe me an explination on why you're dead set on not letting me have that brooch.  
  
He gulped, and she stared at him intently, as if to dare him not to tell the story. "c'mon, I'm waiting for you to begin." He shook his head slightly. "Are you NOT going to tell me the story? C'mon, I want to know. I knew you were a thief, but I thought you at least had as much honour as to stick to your word."  
  
"I am not a thief."  
  
"Yes you are, don't think I didn't ask around about you, it's not everyday one of my customers flirts with me when he's trying to buy a handkerchief from me." He just stood there, jaw hanging slightly open, as she relayed what WERE the facts back to him. "What, was the broach one of the 'aquisations' from the ex-Baroness?"  
  
He was getting angry again, and he fought to keep his temper steady. "No, actually it wasn't." her eyebrow raised inquisitively, very much the same way that his did, when he thought about it.  
  
"Then what was it?"  
  
"It belonged.." He started, and then paused.  
  
"Belonged to whom?" she cut in, impatiently waiting for him to get to the juicy sections of his story.  
  
"My sister." He finally spat out. One of them, at least. His eldest sister had despised him, but his younger sister, being the second youngest of the family, had always been close to him. it had hit him hard when she died. And he had gotten nothing but this brooch from her husband. He gave a shortened, condensed version of how he'd gotten it, and she raised her eyebrow.  
  
"Geez, all that, over a broach?" she said, obviously not as interested in the brooch as she was before. She shrugged her shoulders slightly anyways, and put it back down on the table. To tell the truth, she felt sorry for him. she couldn't help it. The rest of his family shunned him, and so did the rest of the world, who would like a common thief?  
  
But it seemed that the more she got to know him, the more she started to fell something for him, even if it was only pity. She found him to be deeper than he let on, and now that she had a chance to see his house, his humble abode, her respect for him grew. He had surprisingly refined tastes, very gothic, very pre-Renaissance, but it was a beautiful castle none the less.  
  
She quickly gathered the possessions that she was going to keep, various odds and ends, and he was surprised that half of the collection was books. She mounted his horse, and found that he had followed her out. "I trust you know how to get back?" he asked, knowing full well how secluded his house was.  
  
"Yes, I know how to get to my new lands." She said with a sly smile. She was just as conniving as he was, but she was proud of the fact, and wore it almost like a badge of honor, whilst he tried to hide it, using it to manipulate people. And he could just barely tell that she was beginning to manipulate him.  
  
But he didn't really care how manipulative she was being. He got the distinct impression that she wasn't faking being nice to him, that she really was listening as he told his story, and that she had told her story to captivate him, not just to get it over with. She had all the things that he had admired in Danielle, the moxie, the knowledge, and most of all, the beauty. But at the same time, she had so much more. 


End file.
